Global Markets
SK hynix halts Solidigm IPO review as chip rout knocks Kospi down more than 2%
The memory maker blamed volatile markets and chip-stock trends, days after Korean regulators said an overseas listing of its NAND unit would face duplicate-listing rules.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
SK hynix said on Friday that Solidigm, its US-based NAND flash and solid-state drive subsidiary, has stopped reviewing both a pre-IPO funding round and a US initial public offering. In a statement released before the Seoul open, the company said the move did not reflect any change in Solidigm's growth prospects or investment needs, and pointed instead to volatile capital markets and recent trends in semiconductor share prices.
The decision landed as Korean stocks tracked Wall Street's chip selloff lower. The Kospi opened 2.36% down at 5,403.17 and stood at 5,356.69 at 9:29 a.m. local time, off 2.66%, with foreign investors net sellers of 147.4 billion won by then, MoneyToday reported; the Kosdaq was down 3.55%. Overnight, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 6.7% and the Nasdaq Composite 2.6%, while Brent crude settled 4% higher at $113.17 a barrel after renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. SK hynix shares fell 5.49% on Thursday and were 2.37% lower in pre-market trading on the Nextrade platform.
Solidigm was created in 2021 when SK hynix bought Intel's NAND and SSD businesses, and it is wholly owned through a US holding company. Korean media had reported a US listing as soon as 2027 at a valuation of up to $150 billion, figures the company never confirmed. Some SK hynix shareholders opposed a separate listing on the grounds that it could weigh on the parent's valuation, and the heads of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service both told parliamentary audits this week that an overseas listing would fall under Korea's duplicate-listing guidelines.
Why it matters: worry that a Solidigm float would siphon value from the parent had already been cited as a drag on SK hynix shares earlier this week, so the halt removes one overhang for holders of one of Asia's largest AI-memory stocks. It also shows Seoul regulators are prepared to lean on high-profile subsidiary listings. The open question is funding: SK hynix still says it needs new US production capacity and more investment to meet AI memory demand, and that it will reconsider how to pay for it, which leaves debt, other equity routes or a revived IPO as the next things to watch.